Operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) functionality provides network operators with a set of important tools for managing and troubleshooting connection-related problems. OAM cells such as continuity check (CC) cells are used to check the connectivity between two endpoints. Each of the endpoints is programmed to generate and detect CC cells. The CC cells are sent from each endpoint to the other on a regular basis. If an endpoint does not receive a CC cell from the other endpoint, or does not receive CC cells at a specified frequency, an alarm can be generated. The alarm generally takes the form of the connection going into failed state, which can in turn result in the sending of a message to a network operator, who can then take corrective actions.
The technique just described works well for point-to-point connections, because each endpoint only communicates with its counterpart and because communication between the endpoints is bi-directional. However, this technique does not work for point-to-multipoint connections, in which an originating endpoint broadcasts a message to multiple terminating endpoints. In point-to-multipoint connections, communication is uni-directional, meaning that the originating endpoint can send messages to the terminating endpoints, but the terminating endpoints cannot send messages to the originating endpoint. Thus, terminating endpoints cannot send CC cells to the originating endpoint.
Accordingly, a method and/or system that can provide OAM functionality for point-to-multipoint connections would be advantageous. The present invention provides a novel solution to this problem and related problems.